Medeek Wall Plugin

medeek

Version 4.6.2 - 06.10.2026

Added balusters and baluster shoes for all curved stair assemblies.
Added separate baluster spacing, offsets and quantities for inner and outer handrails of curved stair assemblies.

With circular stairs it is possible to carefully control the spacing of the balusters so that a specific number of balusters lands on each tread (two on the inner and three on the outer). However with elliptical stairs the tread arc length may vary significantly so this may or may not be as controllable. I may need to come up with a different way to space balusters on elliptical stairs.

Note that in the second screenshot where the balusters are attached to the closed stringer this is not an issue.

Each side can be adjusted separately with the addition of the six new parameters within the Curved Stair Options sub-menu. This level of granularity is required for curved stairs at the expense of making the menus a bit longer.

medeek

It appears that I have handrail fittings mostly working now for both circular and elliptical curved stairs. However just as with the balusters we will need a separate handrail ext. for top and bottom and a rail drop for each side (inner and outer handrails). This means another six parameters in the curved stair menu. Due to the asymmetry or nature of these curved staircases there is really no way around it.

medeek

I've been also thinking about the framing that goes under these stairs and it seems to me that the methods are as varied as there are carpenters. I could provide a basic curved wall framing as shown in the screenshots below but I don't know how much use this would be to anyone as they will probably frame it differently, thoughts?

Here are a couple additional screenshots of slightly different framing methods applied to a curved staircases:

medeek

Version 4.6.3 - 06.14.2026

Enabled open treads for curved stair assemblies.
Enabled handrail fittings for curved stair assemblies.
Added six additional parameters into the curved stair sub-menu for handrail extensions and upper fitting rail drops.
Enabled handrail posts for curved stair assemblies.
Enabled OTP, CUT, and VERTICAL (PTP) handrail options.
Added a vertical offset parameter for top posts.

medeek

Version 4.6.4 - 06.15.2026

Added a "deck" option to the railing module.

Note that when Railing Type is set to "Deck" there will typically be a cap rail along with an upper and lower rail. The upper and lower rail provide the support for the balusters or pickets.

I will probably need to enable an option to disable or turn off the cap rail.

medeek

Version 4.6.4b - 06.16.2026

Added preview thumbnails into the stair draw and edit menus for posts, balusters and baluster shoes.
Added a "None" handrail profile for deck railings that effectively disables the cap rail.

medeek

Currently there is no "curved" railing option yet however with a little bit of adjustment of the parameters and simply following any given set of points you can do this sort of thing:

Rich O Brien

@medeek just a heads up that a recent forum software update has caused loss of uploaded image files. You may notice your posts from May 15th on are missing images

Sorry about that....

medeek

Version 4.6.5 - 06.18.2026

Added a "GLASS" baluster option for curved stair assemblies (circular and elliptical).

medeek

Version 4.6.5b - 06.19.2026

Added a “CABLE” baluster option for curved stair assemblies (circular and elliptical).

medeek

Currently the railing tool operates similar to the polyline stemwall tool. You select a bunch of points which then create the segments that form the polyline. In order to add the possibility of “curved” segments into this algorithm I could add in a tool which allows the user to select internal segments within the polyline. In order for the segment to be switched to “curved” it would need to meet the following criteria:

1.) It cannot be a start or end segment.
2.) It cannot be colinear with either of its adjacent segments or neighbors.
3.) (Optional) Both adjacent segments must not be curved.

The upside with this type of algorithm is that the user does not need to enter in any radii, the curved segment would always be tangent to the two adjacent segments. Also the question as to which way to orient the arc coming off the two end points is deterministic (there are four possible arc placements otherwise for a given radius).

My only problem with this type of system is that it may be too limiting and even confusing to some, thoughts?

You end up with geometry like this (either a single arc or an S-shaped double arc [biarc]).

The other issue is how to handle start and end segments that the user might want to set as curved.

medeek

Turns out there are many possible solutions to the problem when you go from a single arc to a Hermite biarc solution. Of course not all these solutions are useful, especially where they intersect or collide with other segments of the polyline. Quite the education on this topic between Wikipedia and ChatGPT yesterday. Here as some solutions to the biarc and single arc problem:

medeek

Version 4.6.6 - 06.23.2026

Added a Curved Segment option/tool for railing assemblies.
Added a Spline Railing tool into the Stair Toolbar.
Spline Railings enabled using a Centripetal Catmull-Rom spline algorithm with user selected start and end tangency points.

medeek

medeek

On a related note as I’ve stated in the recent tutorial the regen time of this spline railings can suffer because of the large poly handrails and/or shoerails. In the next update I will be introducing and option where the user can toggle a “split” option for both the handrail and shoerail. This will split those two curved solids into separate segments (at the intermediate posts). For larger spline railing assemblies my internal testing has shown an almost 100% performance (draw, edit, regen).

These two parameters will be found in the intermediate post sub-menu, see image below:

medeek

Version 4.6.7 - 06.25.2026

Added a “GLASS” baluster option for curved and straight rail assemblies.
Added a “CABLE” baluster option for curved and straight rail assemblies.

medeek

Version 4.6.7b - 06.26.2026

Enabled deck railing for spline railing assemblies.
Added a "GLASS" baluster option for spline railing assemblies.
Added a "CABLE" baluster option for spline railing assemblies.

medeek

Tutorial 91: Curved Stairs II - (17:37 min.)

medeek

Back in 2023 Matt Donley reviewed the Wall extension and put it through its paces. One thing he pointed out was that there were cases where none of the existing wall types fit the bill. I call these irregular or “custom” walls.

I’ve now started working on a solution for those “custom” walls that don’t fit neatly into one of the four categories:

medeek

I have a specific request for users of my extensions and those who would like some free advertisement on my website. The front page of my website is in desperate need of an upgrade or at the very least I need to switch focus to the extensions and less focus on my plan sets.

If you have any screenshots or renders that you are particularly proud of that you have created with any of the Medeek extensions please submit them to me via email. Please limit the number of submissions to no more than 10 images. Your image should be no more than 2Mb in size and the dimensions should be a minimum of 1024 x 768 pixels.

If I decide to use an image I reserve the right to trim or crop the image so that it fits within the targeted position on the website. If I do decide to use your image on the front page of my website I can optionally include a small footer that credits your name or the name of your business and the extension used. Also if I do feature your image I will also apply an additional year to the license of the extension you created the image with.

I will probably only need about 20 to 30 images so not every image submitted will be utilized or selected, however all submissions will be retained. I will select the best submissions and then notify you if your were selected via email. I will also probably limit my selection to a maximum of two images per person who submits images so as to give everyone a fair chance at being selected. If at a later date I do consider one of the (non-selected) submissions for inclusion I will notify you before posting it to the front page and also offer you the same license extension as mentioned above.

I’m hoping to get an eclectic mix of images that I can spruce up the front page of design.medeek.com with, and hopefully put a new face on the website.